Hi, Thanks for the comments, guys. I have pretty much decided to go with a regular pot rack and just have a couple of can lights installed, maybe one on either side of the rack. I am shopping on potracksgalore right now (Thanks, eventhecatisaboy), and I think I'm going to go with a basic rectangular stainless steel rack with also a small wall bar above my stove for utensils. Alicia, thanks for the comments! I don't really have a drawing of the cabinets, but I think that wall will look OK. We just couldn't figure out what to do there because there wasn't room for anything to come down on either side of the window, so it was going to look weird. We're thinking of putting some open shelving over the window just to kind of balance out the other wall of cabs. We're just working it out as we go along. Here is a link that might be useful: Owl's progress blog

We've got the farm thing going, too. Dust is an ever-present "friend" here. I decided to post a picture of our beam when I had the pots hanging from it (please excuse my clutter, LOL) We're working on getting more storage built in to the kitchen, but it's not done yet. Our beam is 8' to the underside, and I simply hammered some nice strong long-shanked nails into it to hold the pots. Function all the way. : ) The pots were just high enough for us to walk under. Before you invest in a rack, you might want to measure and see just how far the pots would hang down after the rack was installed. I have a hard time feeling comfortable with objects in my head space-and I'm only 5' 4"! At 5' 10", your view may be through the pots rather than under them if the ceiling is 8 feet high.

Thank you to all for your input and ideas. I have much to think over now as I had always thought that I wanted a pot rack, but my husband agrees with the idea of dust being a problem along with the fact the he fears it will block the light and be a head knocker for some of the taller family members. A lot of excellent points have been made that I had not thought of, such as what the bottom of my pans will look like after some use. I have been collecting some stainless all-clad and a few copper pieces that I wanted to try and display in some manner. I have not used these pieces yet because I'm saving them for when we get moved into the new house, so they look nice and shiny now but down the road I'm sure they'll start looking quite weathered. Gonna have to study on this one for a bit, but I will post back when I figure it out. And thanks again for your well thought out responses. I'm so thankful that I found GW at just the right time as I'm sure I'm going to have plenty more questions for you guys as this build moves forward.

Not familiar with the BHG kitchen but I have been in the market for a chrome potrack. I think Enclume is one of the only companies that makes them in chrome but they didn't have what I wanted so I was considering instead of making one out of chrome or stainless pipe (see link for instructions). You can make it any size you want for a fraction of the price to buy it new. Signature Hardware carries the chrome pipes. You can also hang a pendant light from the ceiling. But just so you know, we had a potrack with lights before and I didn't like it because it casts a lot shadows and the pans block the lights. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Pipe pot rack